Post Office Ltd have announced the beginning of a further consultation on the nature of the outreach service to be offered at the Rendcomb Post Office near Cirencester.

The Rendcomb branch was one of the twelve Post Offices across the Cotswolds which the Post Office has confirmed will close but is one of the eight of those which will receive outreach.

The consultation is due to run from 28th May until 8th July. Post Office Ltd are making it clear that this is not an opportunity to fight the closure but to consult fully on achieving the most satisfactory outreach service.

Under the initial proposals Rendcomb was due to receive a mobile service for just three hours every Tuesday. The new proposals are for a partner service to be hosted in the current branch from 08.00 to 17.00 Monday to Friday and from 08.00 to 13.00 on Saturday.

This announcement is on top of the decision, following the consultation, to increase the service at Colesbourne Post Office from 41/2 hours of mobile service to 20 hours of partner service at the branch's present location.

Reacting to the news Cotswolds MP Geoffrey Clifton- Brown commented "After receiving the devastating news that the closure of the branches at Stratton and The Beeches is to go ahead, there is finally a glimmer of hope for the residents of Rendcomb and Colesbourne"

"The hours of outreach offered at these two locations were clearly inadequate as I made perfectly clear in my response to the original consulatation and I am pleased to see that Post Office Ltd have demonstrated common sense in this case"

"However I believe that the change at Colesbourne and the proposals for Rendcomb are a tacit admission by Post Office Ltd that Cirencester Castle Street Branch would have been inadequate for dealing with the extra trade borne of these closures combined with those at Stratton and The Beeches"

"Unfortunately despite this I remain concerned that the branch does not have the capacity to cope with the changes"

Mr Clifton-Brown is once again encouraging residents who use the Rendcomb branch to write to Post Office Ltd, with a copy to himself, expressing their support for proposed outreach at the branch.
The address is as follows:-
Mark Partington
Network Development Manager
c/o National Consultation Team
FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM